Airalain and the Mystery Twin

Chapter Ten: I Snoop About

That afternoon, I found myself unable to focus. I was too busy worrying about how the integration will begin. I got a ping off of Dashbook Messenger with this message from Headmaster Sonic himself: Airalain, come to my study immediately. I would like to discuss the integration with you. I knew what this meant: Sonic was getting the first phase of the integration between human and Mobian students ready.

I excused myself as Alison started to sit down to do something with her laptop. I wondered exactly what Sonic was going to say. If it was a bad thing, like the integration being delayed, then we might have problems. Every negative outcome kept coming into my head. I twisted a blue spine out of sheer nervousness. I glanced at myself, just to be sure that I'm presentable.

I finally made it to Sonic's study. I knocked, feeling the anticipation build up inside of me. I hear Sonic purr, "Enter." I don't know if he was in a good mood. I grabbed the handle of the doorknob and shoved the heavy oak door open. Sonic was standing at his desk, his green eyes gleaming with amusement. I stopped for a second to admire how the sun made his cobalt spikes glow. "So how are you enjoying your twin sister?" Sonic asked, his tone clear.

I shrugged. In all honesty, Ali was okay, as far as roommates go. She's quiet, soft spoken, and painfully shy. Sonic must have sensed my reluctance, since he jogged over to where I was and placed a gloved hand on my shoulder. His smile was not unkind, rather, it looked a little sympathetic. "I'm thinking about starting the integration with the extracurricular activities. Everyone is going to have to wear their disguise rings, though."

I asked, "What if someone misplaced their disguise ring?"

Sonic replied, his emerald green eyes gleaming, "Then they would have to call in sick and lie to the humans just to throw off suspicion."

My head immediately shot up. Sonic's not only the fastest thing alive, but he's also incredibly smart, believe it or not. He is quite pragmatic that way. I felt really warm as he leaned in close and hugged me. I asked, "When is this integration going to start?"

He replied, "Today." My heart sank. While in our disguise rings, we can easily pass of as human. Almost like the RA's here, except we won't have tails, or animalistic ears. I'll explain later. But aside from that, our fur color would become hair color. Our eyes remain the same, but they are more human. They are kind of finicky because they are only defective to cameras. So if you were to try to snap a photo of us or record a video of us, your phone will glitch... a lot.

He grinned, slipping on his disguise ring. Almost immediately, his eyes became more human. His spines melted into hair that reminded me of Dean Winchester's hair. But his face looked a lot like Ryan Reynolds. Sonic has two disguise rings, actually. One of them looks like a young Jason Griffifth (which he uses as a means to blend in with students) and the other looks like Ryan Reynolds. Sonic's generally careful when he is scouring Earth for students.

I asked, "Where are you going?"

Sonic replied, "There is a runaway student in France that I need to pick up." I knew what that meant: Sonic found out that one of his students had made a run for it. He has a network of humans who help him capture and return those runaway students. But there was one human in particular that Sonic likes, and that was Brenda. Apparently she died and there was an agreement of sorts that he made with her. Sonic never went into any detail about it.

I knew that this Brenda dying and Ali's arrival at STH Academy happening close together could not just be a coincidence. I knew that there was more to it than just Sonic picking up a new student and enrolling them. I was about to ask more when Sonic told me, his tone abrupt, "Be good while I'm gone." Then he ushered me out and shut the door in a way that screamed, I'm hiding something from you!

That didn't deter me. I walked away, pretending to head to Cheer. I waited until he shut the door. Then I stared at him while he was driving away with the STH Academy Mobile Student Transfer Vehicle. It looks like an RV, but it travels to it's exact destination. Sometimes it would take days, because nobody knows when he is picking up a student... or when he returns. He never makes his presence known until the next morning.

I knew that I didn't have much time. I needed to find out more about Brenda, I need to find out why Sonic kept such a close eye on her. So I quickly picked the lock (Scourge taught me how and told me to never use it unless I forgot the key to my diary). The door slid open silently. I slipped inside of his study.

I knew where Sonic kept his secret files on human associates. I slid past the ebony table to his desk. His secret files are in a secret compartment underneath his chair. I opened the chairtop slowly. There were many different files, but I knew where to look. I searched under the letter "B", and lo and behold, near the bottom, was the file I desperately needed.

I picked up a small folder with the name "Brenda XXXXXX-XXXXX" and I opened it. I saw a woman who looked a little bit like Ali standing next to a man who looked almost exactly like her. I started reading the file silently.

Name: Brenda. I found Brenda working at a casino near XXXXXXX in 1999. She had hauled one of my students out by the scruff of his neck and scolded him about lying about his age. I approached her and made her an offer, which she accepted. But after getting married to Dan XXXXX, she developed a system that worked well... until the birth of twins. Then she started slipping up. Five different students have slipped away, but I suspected that those twins of hers made her soft. I made another offer with her over coffee during her pregnancy: Let me have both twins for compensation. She refused, but offered one better: I can have one twin, and she keeps the other under the guise that if she becomes of age, then she will be ineligible to attend STH Academy. Status: Deceased. Spouse deceased also. Runaways caught: 59.

I felt sick. I realized that all of those years of Sonic telling me that he had found me nearly half starved in Green Hill Zone as a baby and had to change into a Hedgehog at the age of two was nothing short of a lie. I also realized something else, something more tragic: My birth mother, the person I wonder about on the daily, was dead and I never got the chance to meet her. My fingers shook as I sealed off the envelope and placed everything back. I felt as if everything I knew about Sonic was a lie.

I didn't hear Sonic enter. I didn't hear the door creak open. I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to realize that Sonic had returned with the new student until it was too late.

"And just WHAT do you think you are doing, Airalain!?"